“Not Suffering”: SA Takes Digs at Officials Raiding Prison in Wake of Viral Clip of Inmates Boasting

• Scenes of an Emergency Support Team (EST) conducting a prison raid at a correctional centre have surfaced online
• X user @S_Phola__ shared a video showing the officials swooping in on cell blocks and lining up the inmates
• Mzansi online users posited that the raid was in response to an earlier clip of an inmate boasting about prison life

South Africa is a movie, and this notion again hit social media users like a ton of bricks after a clip of Correctional Services officials raiding a prison made the rounds online.

An X user, @S_Phola__, posted a 98-second video showing an Emergency Support Team (EST) swooping in on cell blocks at an unknown facility.

SA takes digs at officials

The caption read:

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"So, they were waiting for that video to do the job they [are] supposed to do every day? Mara [but], our country (laughing emojis)."

The poster seemingly responded to a clip posted a few days earlier, showing an inmate boasting about life behind bars.

In the initial one-minute clip circulated on 17 July, the prisoner took a video making general statements about being locked up.

Wearing a yellow correctional centre overall, he described it as a joyous affair, saying neither he nor the other inmates suffered.

"Hello, haters. Hello, haters. You put us in prison, and you think we're suffering? No, my brother, we're doing extremely fine! Look [at] how happy we are. This morning, we had breakfast, and this afternoon we had lunch. We had supper and [also] dinner, my friend. [So] we're doing extremely fine," he said, laughing hysterically as he looked straight into the camera.

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In the subsequent video on 19 July, though unclear whether officials raided the same correctional centre, some inmates are seen wearing the yellow prison uniform with blue long-sleeve vests.

The convicts are gathered from their beds inside the cell unit and made to lie down on the ground with their hands behind their heads.

Later, they are lined up, facing the wall and sitting with their hands clasped on their heads. At the same time, EST officials can be seen ransacking the cell.

Raids are part of standard operating procedures at correctional centres to create and maintain safe prison environments, during which officials confiscate illicit items, including contraband, shanks, and cell phones.

Locals chirp over scenes

The video attracted nearly 440,000 hits within 12 hours, garnering 4600 likes, 1300 reposts, 800 bookmarks and over 300 responses.

Briefly News looks at some of the reactions below.

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@Gaoemow wrote:

"It's like social media runs SA."

@Ruth_Sne said:

"As if the inmates were not warned that they [were] coming."

@mphokophelo remarked:

"That [wasn't] local EST doing their rounds as always. This was responding to the video. I guess, you know, in South Africa, we react only."

Gayton McKenzie: From prison cell to parliament

In other recent news, Briefly News reported that in a powerful and emotional X post, Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader Gayton McKenzie shared two striking images that resonated deeply with South Africans.

Depicted was an image of his prison record during a previous stint behind bars and his newly acquired parliament access card.

Source: Briefly News